Will Chad Johnson + Birth Story

On June 21st, we met our baby boy. 8 lbs 12 oz and 21″ of pure newborn goodness! He is so sweet and I cannot get enough cuddle time with him! His sisters are obsessed and we are all so happy to have him join our family!

I love reading birth stories, but if you don’t, feel free to skip right to the pictures…

At my prenatal visit on June 18th, I was three days past my due date. My doctor was pushing me to schedule an induction, so I scheduled one for Monday, June 22nd (so everyone would stop bugging me). If I didn’t have the baby by then, I would just cancel the induction. My first baby was 6 days overdue and my second was 5 days, so expected it to be the same this time. I was planning an unmedicated delivery, so I preferred to go into labor on my own.

On Friday, my doctor called and said I needed to go get tested for COVID as soon as possible since the test results were taking longer than normal to come back. I had to have my results back before the scheduled induction. I went that afternoon and it was pretty painful and very unpleasant!

Early on the morning of June 21st (6 days past my due date), I had consistent contractions for about an hour and then they just stopped. They weren’t very painful and were not increasing in intensity. I had a couple other false alarms like this in the previous weeks. At this point I was so ready to have this baby, I was just annoyed and frustrated when it turned out to be another false alarm. It was Father’s Day and was a pretty relaxed day. I baked a cake to celebrate John and we FaceTimed lots of family to wish them all a Happy Father’s Day. I joked that all John wanted for Father’s Day was the baby to be born and it didn’t look like I was going to be able to deliver. After dinner, we were hanging out in the back yard and I had one really strong contraction out of nowhere around 7:30 pm. It took me by complete surprise and I thought it was really weird. It was time to put the girls to bed, so we all went inside. I had a couple more strong contractions and knew it was time. We arranged for a friend to watch the girls until my sister-in-law could come pick them up. My last labor went really quick, so we wanted to head to the hospital as soon as possible. Ava, my oldest, was so excited when I told her the baby was coming and it was time to go to the hospital!

We have a 20 minute drive to the hospital and my contractions got pretty painful on the way. We pulled up to the hospital around 8:30. We entered through the emergency room and had to be screened for COVID symptoms. They were about to take me up to labor and delivery when an emergency room nurse came out to ask me a few questions. “What are your symptoms? How far along are you?” I almost laughed, I’m very pregnant and very much in labor. “Any other complaints?” I said, “Yeah, that you’re not taking me upstairs!” They finally wheeled me up to labor and deliver, where they had more questions for me. I will never understand why they ask all the same questions I’ve already answered over the phone while “pre-registering”. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine.

Once I get changed into a gown in the delivery room, the nurse checks me and I am dilated to a 5. My COVID test came back negative, but John and I were supposed to wear masks anytime someone else was in the room. I abandoned mine real quick! I agree with wearing a mask, but there was no way I was going to keep that on during labor and birth! At this point, my contractions are very painful and close together. I feel like I am transitioning, so I ask the nurse to check me again. I was at an 8. I had been telling them my labors go quick, so they could be prepared and get the doctor there in plenty of time but they were still surprised haha. They called my doctor and she had to rush over. She wasn’t on call, but I was so happy she was able to make it. When she came she checked me and there was only a small part of my cervix left. After one more contraction, I was fully dilated and feeling like I needed to push. She broke my water, I waited one more contraction and then started to push. After a couple pushes, he arrived at 9:56 pm and I was so relieved! He was perfect and there is no better feeling than when they lay a fresh baby on your chest! I got to just lay there and cuddle him for about an hour before they weighed and measured him. It was heaven! After the nurses were finished with him, John got to hold him for the first time. That’s a pretty great Father’s Day gift if you ask me.

It was strange to not have any visitors at the hospital. I had been looking forward to the girls being able to come and meet him there. I ended up really enjoying the time John and I got to spend with him, just the three of us. We spent most of that time talking about what to name him. We are really terrible at deciding on names, me especially! We had narrowed it down to Will or Cam. I had always like Cam better and John liked Will. It was weird, even though I loved the name Cam, we both just felt like he should be named Will. So right before we left the hospital, we officially named him Will Chad Johnson (Chad after John’s dad).

I hate staying at the hospital. It’s uncomfortable and the nurses just keep you up all night, so we decided to go home as soon as possible, which was 11:00 pm the next day. Unfortunately, checking out didn’t go very smoothly and it was 1:00 am before we finally made it home. The girls were able to meet him the next morning and it was so cute! Ava is especially taken with him. She has been really helpful and extra adorable with him. Tess loves him for a minute and then she is off playing. I have been pleasantly surprised how well they have both adjusted to a new baby. There has been no jealously whatsoever! I can’t believe we have three kids now, we are so blessed!